barefoot childhood
running in grandparents' woods
picking elderberries
vines wrapped around fence
neatly kept and freshly picked
elderberry pie
Blue
Why is it, if people are sad,
we say they are blue,
when blue is such a happy color?
Blue are electric skies of October
that bring cool breezy weather,
and find children joyfully
jumping in piles of dry leaves,
playing tag on the playground,
and munching crisp juicy apples.
Blue are the eyes of the little
blond girl with golden curls
who smiles up at me from
a tea party with her dolls.
Blue is the sparkling ocean
on a hot day in summer,
waves making little slapping noises
as they hit the rocks of the jetty,
calling swimmers to jump in,
skip flat stones across the water,
or search for pieces of beach glass.
Blue is hyacinths that perfume the air,
and iris and forget-me-nots
in the garden in spring, and
elderberries and blueberries
and blueberry jam for your toast.
In the marsh a great blue heron
steps majestically toward dinner.
There are blue frogs, blue mussels,
blue claw crabs, blue butterflies.
All are delights of nature.
How can we call blue a sad color
with such a myriad of happy blues?
BLUE
Sky's hue color
U blue flowing soft tropical waters quiet
the color is summit roses elderberries
the color is sounding like a foghorn
sounds of school bells
it takes me to a broken traffic light
taste of castor oil
taste of spoiled meat
tasting boysenberry pie
blue feels like coarse toilet paper
Blue feels like a rubber ball
Blue feels of solid sand castles on a cold Beach
Whist emotions are term--
BLUE
1/15/21
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021
Scratches and abrasions sensate,
stalking, doxing, ghosting drones
have pinched, clawed, and marked.
I remember the sharp edges of yesterday
but cannot recall the moments
when the bumps and bruises occurred,
yet here is the evidence beneath my skin
boiling up today as if another I
had fought his way through an avalanche of time.
I bathe my spectral wounds in virgin olive oil
and elderberries,
soak tender thoughts in aloe, the essence
of echinacea -
yet still nothing to see
and I wonder
if this jagged land is so wrongly put together
and I am so loosely stitched,
so easily in the way of its daggers
then I should not venture another day
of being in this worlds way.
the catbird
was eaten
by our
neighbor's
cat so now
i can
eat the uneaten
elderberries
but how
to
treat
the cat
Our great debate is about to start
Over which aspect is the essential part
Of the word 'kiwi' -- Is it that strange-looking bird
Or is it the green, fuzzy fruit that tastes so darn good?
You say a kiwi can't be a bird, because it can't fly
Well, how about emus, and rheas, and ostriches?
They are flightless birds too, say I
You say no bird has a beak so awfully long
Well, just look at pelicans, curlews, and storks
I say you're wrong!
You say alright, o.k -- Consider the kiwi berry
I say the kiwi's no berry -- to the contrary
It's clearly a citrus fruit
You say, No! No! -- A kiwi grows on a shrub or a vine
I concede that may seem like a grape or raspberry
But whoever heard of 'Vintage Kiwi Wine?'
You shake your head and you say
It's rightly called the 'Chinese gooseberry'
While I assure you it's got more vitamin C
Than an orange inside a pail
Of straw, black, blue, and elderberries
Thus concludes our debate
Wasn't it great?
Maybe I won -- Maybe it was you
But when we sat down to eat some kiwi
~ Away it flew!
Autumn
Welcome!
Chrysanthemum
Cosmos cockscomb hypericum
Let all my sweet memories come
‘Autumn’!
Pears!
Sweet juice luscious
Fruits are delicious
Apples elderberries and plums
‘Cheers’!
Harvest
Season is best
Squash carrots courgette
Cauliflower to cultivate
‘Request’!
Blue sky
Dry clouds fly
Hot summer bade bye
Open outdoor romance now to try
‘You- I’!
Hypericum Attractive Autumn flower
10/24/15
5th Place in contest
First Place
'STRAND CHOICE V' Contest by Brian Strand
Gone are the summer wildflowers
those many, subtle scented breaths
that once allured nectar seekers
and me to their wild colonies.
But now those lifeless peduncles
that once bore inflorescent blooms
decay amidst a grand graveyard
of myriad, deciduous dead.
Gone are the summertime players:
the honeybees and bumblebees,
butterflies and dragon flies
mulberries and elderberries;
brief were the roles each had played
in their own, spectacular way.
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